This invention relates generally to synthetic strings, such as those used for sport rackets and musical instruments, and, more particularly, to a string suitable for use in a tennis racket.
For many years substantially all strings for stringed apparatus were composed of tissue or other animal components. For example, animal intestine, known as animal gut, was the primary string in tennis rackets. Indeed, although numerous synthetic tennis racket strings have been developed, many players still consider gut the superior tennis racket string. A principal advantage of gut is its "feel," which is believed to extend from the fact that it operates with less internal damping than many other materials, thus causing the ball to rebound harder from the racket, while minimizing energy loss due to impact. In other words, gut has high-resilience characteristics, i.e., low-damping qualities. However, gut also has a number of disadvantages, such as high cost, variable quality, modest strength and durability, and, perhaps most importantly, an inability to withstand high-moisture environments for a significant length of time.
These disadvantages have initiated an extensive search for alternative strings. Due to good durability and good resistance to moisture, a variety of synthetic polymers have been formed into strings for use in tennis rackets. These synthetic strings have not proved entirely satisfactory, however, because they generally lack the low damping of gut and sometimes elongate when exposed to higher temperatures, thus losing the necessary tension in the stringed racket.
In recent years, increasing interest has focused on the need for improved synthetic strings and their production. Such interest has been intensified by the soaring requirements in the tennis racket industry for high performance strings. For instance, the immense popularity of oversized tennis rackets, which generally must be strung at higher tensions than regular-sized tennis rackets to maintain good playing characteristics, has generated significant research efforts in the art.
Therefore, there is a recognized need for an improved synthetic tennis string having low internal damping, minimal elongation, high tensile strength and good playing characteristics. The present invention fills this need.